"No son of mine is gonna play any foos-ball"

I am NOT a fan of football.

I started going to football games when I was in junior high, because my older brother played on the high school team. And when I was in high school, I went to them because it was THE place to be on a Friday night. But after high school, my desire to attend football games ended. Except for the social aspect of them, I had no interest in the actual game. I never even went to see my college team play while I attended SUU; I felt like there were plenty of better activities to do on Friday nights than going to football games!

Of course, as life would have it, I married a man who is a HUGE fan of the sport. I have no idea why people love football so much. I honestly don't get the fascination with it. I feel the same as Mama Boucher from "The Waterboy" when she said that "foosball is a bunch of overgrown monsters man-handling each other". I remember going to a USU game with him once after we were married, and I was bored out of my mind: 1. because I didn't understand the game, 2. because there was nobody in the surrounding crowd that I recognized or knew (other than my husband and siblings, but they were too enthralled in the game to make conversation), and 3. because I froze my butt off.

Two years after that USU game, Josh and I were living in Pocatello for a short time. That fall of 2000, the Salmon high school football team had their state play-offs at the Holt Arena, so we went to those games. Surprisingly, they were exciting and fun and I rather enjoyed myself! I remember a specific game where we were playing Snake River. Snake River has a much bigger school than Salmon, and they had enough football players to fill two teams, whereas we had barely enough players to make one complete team. The Salmon players put up a great fight, a valiant fight, but they were so worn out by the end of the game, that ultimately we lost. I remember thinking how hard those boys worked and how beaten-up they were, like they had just put themselves through 2 1/2 hours of self-induced torture. I remember holding baby Ammon and echoing Mama Boucher's thoughts (again from "The Waterboy"), that "No son of mine is gonna play any foos-ball!".

Football has become a fact of life, and I become a widow to it every fall. If there's a game on TV, it is being watched by Josh. Thursday night=college football, Friday night=high school or college football, Saturday=college football, Sunday: NFL, Monday night: NFL. That leaves only Tuesday and Wednesdays free of the game.

Except not anymore, because this year Ammon started playing football. There have been no days free of the sport since August, when his football practices began. The practices have been every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and his games have been every Wednesday as well as two Saturdays.

That's right, now I have a son who plays the sport. The same son I was holding when I told myself I wouldn't let my boys play football. During one game, Ammon got hurt and my father-in-law said "that's why we never encouraged our kids to do the sport". Not only did I NOT want him to play, but I never encouraged him to play! But, I also never discouraged him from playing the sport that he truly loves. Ammon loves playing football even more than his dad's love for watching the sport on ESPN! And Ammon has joined Josh now in viewing anything football on TV! {insert sigh} Like father, like son...

Football. Foosball. Foolsball. Whatever you call it. It's the highlight of my husband's life and my son's life in the fall! And although I'm still not a fan of the sport, I can truly say that I've enjoyed watching Ammon play it (well, except for that one time when he got hurt). And despite the way I feel about football, I like watching him play because it's important to him and he loves it and it makes him happy.
Ammon played positions on the defensive line and on special teams. There were two teams comprised of 5th and 6th graders: the orange team and the black team. He was #2 on the black team. Both teams practiced for an hour and a half each day on the field adjacent to the high school. The first few weeks, all the kids practiced together until they could get a feel for the boys' abilities and then they split them up into two equally-sized teams. Each Wednesday, the orange and black teams played against each other. Sometimes they played on the practice field next to the high school.And sometimes they played on the high school football field!
The black team won their first scrimmage against the orange team. They continued to have a great winning record, beating the orange team 4 more times out of 6 games!

In addition to playing against the other Salmon team, there was two Saturdays that we played against a team from Anaconda, Montana. One time they played here, and the next time we played there. We hated playing against them. They were mean and they played dirty and rough. Unfortunately, neither of our teams ever beat theirs. The ONE time that Ammon got injured during a game, it was because an Anaconda player grabbed him by the face mask and threw him on the ground. He had whiplash and a neck-ache and a headache, but after sitting out of the game for a quarter getting his neck iced, and drinking some cold water, and voicing his frustrations about the unsportsmanlike behavior from the other team, he felt better. (Because Anaconda always wore black jerseys, our black team had to borrow the orange jerseys for the game. Ammon wore the #16 orange jersey.) I learned a lot about football just by watching my son play. Having Ammon on the field forced me to actually watch the football game rather than just socialize with the people around me (although there was still a lot of that too!). Ammon had lots of good tackles and I was quite proud of him! Their final game was last Wednesday on the high school football field. It was a special game--the Jr. High cheerleaders came to cheer, an announcer did the play-by-play over the loudspeaker from the booth, the big field lights were lit-up, and the scoreboard was used. It was really cool, and the boys all thought so too! They were all pumped and excited and it was just a spectacular game to watch! Even though they didn't win their final game, both teams played very well! I was very proud of all the kids, especially Ammon!!

I'm glad that Ammon had the fun opportunity to play football for the first time this year. He was worried that he wouldn't be able to play because football started just 3 days after his finger accident with the lawnmower. Thankfully, his finger healed nicely and he was able to participate. He had great coaches and an awesome team! I'm looking forward to many years ahead of watching him play the "foosball" game in the fall!!! But for now, I'm glad that his first season is over, and that at least Tuesdays and Wednesdays are free from football once again!!!